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Comedian Langston Kerman keeps it real at Club Downunder

This past Saturday, Club Downunder hosted one of its last comedy events of the Spring before renovating for the Fall. Langston Kerman was the headliner and he delivered a performance that was funny, thought provoking and real.

This past Saturday, Club Downunder hosted one of its last comedy events of the Spring. Langston Kerman was the headliner and he delivered a performance that was funny, thought provoking and real.

Langston Kerman is a comedian, writer and actor who is probably most well-known for his recurring role on the HBO hit series “Insecure” as Jared. In addition to this he’s also appeared on “Adam DeVine’s House Party” on Comedy Central and was also a part of Chris Rock's writing staff for the 2016 Academy Awards.

Kerman hails from the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. With Chicago being a well-known stomping grounds for renown comedians, the intimidation factor was surely present when Kerman started stand-up.

“I think anytime you’re new to a space or new to interacting with an art form you’re terrified in the fact that Chicago has a rich history of dope ass comedians who are all doing it. When I first started Lil Rel was still living in Chicago; Hannibal had just left. There was a list of guys who were known to be funny and that was very overwhelming, but you just do what you know how to do. And you’re not going to be funnier, so you just go out and try,” stated Kerman.

But stand-up comedy wasn’t always a part of Kerman’s plans, even though his first time performing was during his college days at the University of Michigan where he placed second at a comedy competition.

Soon after graduating with a B.A. in English, he taught poetry at his alma mater for a year before going to go grad school in Boston and receiving a master’s degree in poetry. His poetic background was brought up during his set when he revealed his initial interest in poetry was to impress girls. Something that he later realized was creepy but was reassured that he probably isn’t the only one who’s done that.

Like most comedy shows, we were invited inside the mind, life and times of the comic. We were warned early on that things were either going to get racial and uncomfortable, gross or both. No matter what it was, it was an honest account of Kerman’s life. The racial moments included a conversation with his Jewish grandfather who told him Fox News was the only news channel he could trust—which lead Kerman to realize that he’s his grandfather’s only black friend. The gross moments included drawing the similarities between a homeless person defecating from atop a closed Chipotle and Kerman’s girlfriend pooping with the door open and trying to have deep conversations.

In speaking with Kerman before his set, it was clear to see that there was no difference between the man on stage and the man who sat in front of me. Through conversation we both aired our grievances about society and representation in the media. Even with all of the recent success of black artists in pop culture, there is still much to be done.

“There’s not enough of us anywhere, and that’s sort of the point. We, black people, shape all of culture. We have influenced every essence of culture that exists in America. Everything. Even the things that are oppositional to black people are shaped by the fact that people don’t like us. And so, in that sense, we should be as much a part of these conversations as anyone.”

There’s a conversation to be had with all of Kerman’s work. In addition to poking fun at some of the absurdities of life, he also reflects on life’s cruelty and injustices. These were the heavier moments of the night, but they were needed. It put things into perspective and reminded us that life isn’t fair for all of us. This was perhaps best expressed towards the closer when Kerman recounted living with a white woman who believed in ghosts. He then went on to say that white women can believe in benign, nonsensical things like ghosts and people will take their word for it. White people in general can be whimsical and carefree and worry themselves with things that don’t exist. Meanwhile black people aren’t allowed to believe in police brutality. Despite the copious videos of cops killing unarmed black civilians, whenever there’s an uproar we’re told that cops are actually friendly people who only kill blacks when they’re wiggling and making them uncomfortable. What started as a joke turned evolved into something gripping and all too real. This moment, for a lack of a better term, woke the room up. Sparse laughs peppered between a stunned silence and soft “wows.”

Moments like this revealed Kerman’s brilliance and the responsibility he feels as a black artist to be honest with himself and his audience.

“I want to make the dopest thing I could possibly make for me, that’s my only goal. But, I’ll never try to eliminate my identity in the process. I’m black. That’s always gonna be a part of that conversation. And I don’t have any interest in x-ing that part just because it’s gonna put me in a position or people will look at me a certain way. I just want it to be dope and if anybody can point to what I do and say ‘well it’s only dope because he’s black,’ then that is more their hang-up than mine.”

After Saturday’s show, we hope to see Langston Kerman continue to do more dope things. For updates on Kerman and his everyday hilarity, follow him on Twitter and Instagram @LangstonKerman. Follow @ClubDownunder for updates on CDU and Union Production events. This Saturday Josh Johnson will be performing as the headliner for the last comedy night before the club's renovation.